Love Is As Love Will
by moonswirl
Summary: Gleekathon, day 1130: Rachel is visited by Shelby, back from her honeymoon, and they have a talk which leads to an important conversation with Sam.


_Started my daily ficlets to make the hiatus pass, then decided to keep going with a 2nd cycle, and then a 3rd, 4th, etc through 53rd cycle. Now cycle 54!_

* * *

**"Love Is As Love Will"  
Rachel & Shelby - Sam & Nell, Samchel  
Sam & Nell/Samchel series (+ bit of Shelby & Beth)  
_(all series now listed under the communities tab in my profile)_  
**

She had heard through Quinn that Shelby and Emmett had indeed returned from their honeymoon, picking up Joanie and Beth from the Fabrays' to return home all four of them. Later on that day Shelby had sent a message, asking if it was alright if she came to see her on Saturday.

When Saturday morning came around, as agreed, Shelby came along. Rachel's fathers were out, which was just as well for the time being.

"You look good," Rachel told her mother with a smile, and Shelby smirked.

"It was really good to be out there, although we both just missed the girls so much," Shelby explained. "Oh, and..." she reached into her bag, pulling out another bag, which she placed before Rachel. "Brought you back a few things, you can check it out later."

"Thank you," Rachel beamed, tempted to see what was inside. At the same time though she preferred to wait and just enjoy the moment. Here she was, sitting with her mother, having a casual conversation... Maybe they weren't mother and daughter in the classic sense of the term, but they had found this level for themselves and it worked out, gave them what they had wanted out of finding one another, even if it wasn't what they had imagined at first.

"So how are things at school? Glee Club?" Shelby asked and Rachel smiled.

"Ongoing," she nodded. "Sam and I are trying this thing about doing duets not just with each other but with the others, too. He says if we become too reliant on choosing each other then we won't get anywhere, and I wasn't sure at first but then the more I thought about it, he's right. It'll give us a chance to grow, and that's always a good thing. Learn from others, right?"

"Sounds like you're doing that already," Shelby smiled, and Rachel nodded proudly. "He's in the same year as you?" she had to ask after a beat.

"One behind," Rachel shook her head, and Shelby quietly looked to her. The look on her daughter's face shifted. Rachel had started thinking about it, though she hasn't said a word of it to Sam yet.

"What about after next year, when you graduate and he doesn't?"

"I don't know," Rachel admitted.

"Do you have any plans yet, for college, or..."

"I want to go to New York," she stated right away, then after a moment, "But then there's... him, and Nell..."

"What would he want you to do, stay in Lima or go?"

"We haven't talked about it yet," Rachel shook her head.

"But you know him, right?" Shelby went on, and she nodded. "Then what do you think he'd say?"

"He'd say go," she gave the answer just as easily as she'd given the one about New York, listening to her gut. Once she'd said it, she sighed.

"Look I've done a lot of things in my life, and I've not done a lot of them, too," Shelby told her. "I regretted a lot of them, on both sides. I was lucky, because in the end I did find a place where I was happy, and I wouldn't change any of it. You and Sam, you found each other, and there's still part of me who wonders if things might be moving too fast for you, but then I've seen you together, you and him, you and Nell..." she sighed with a smile. "It will be hard on all of you, I'm sure, but what's one hard year when you've got everything else after?" Rachel was surprised at first, to hear this from her, but at the same time, the wedding, the honeymoon, being back with the girls... Maybe this new perspective was working out for her.

Later that day she had gone to see Sam, spending the evening with him and Nell as she usually would on weekends. She'd been turning over everything Shelby had told her in her head all afternoon, but still she hesitated to bring it up with him. What if he was just as aware of their impending situation, and he didn't respond to it as she had envisioned? They still had over a year, maybe it was too soon…

He'd gone out to pick up dinner for them on his own while she stayed behind with Nell. She liked these moments left alone with the little blonde, especially now that her babblings had started to turn into words. Rachel remembered the day she had first called out 'Dada' and the look on Sam's face… But none of it had prepared her for that day, sitting on the ground and holding Nell's hands as she stood on her feet before her, watching her 'dance' to the music on the television. It always got a smile on Rachel's face to watch her, and she would encourage her, singing along, and then she'd pause, like she was throwing the song to Nell, letting her take it. She'd just give her a confused little face, and Rachel would laugh, hug her, and let her back on her feet for her wiggly, wobbly dance.

Only that day, when she'd paused and thrown the song to her, Nell hadn't sung, but she'd done something even better when she'd looked up to Rachel and called her Mama…

Rachel had been completely blindsided by it, and she just stared at Nell for a beat. "What did you…" she blinked, bringing her closer. "Nell?"

"Mama," Nell had repeated, with that gushing smile of hers that made her look like the spitting image of her father. Rachel gasped and laughed, hugging her close.

"You did, you called me Mama…" she cried, which prompted Nell to repeat it once again. "You did…" she breathed, and suddenly the need to have that talk with Sam felt like it couldn't wait after all. "Oh sweetie…" she sighed, closing her eyes and rubbing the girl's back.

When Sam had returned, she must still have looked like she'd been crying, because as soon as he saw her he had that worried face of his. "Everything alright?" he asked, putting the bags down and coming to them as Rachel sat on the couch now with Nell asleep in her lap. Part of her wasn't sure how he'd take the revelation, after everything that had happened, losing Summer…

"She, uh… she said a new word while you were out," she explained.

"She did?" Sam smiled. "What was it?"

"Mama…" she told him, and he looked back to her in surprise.

"That's great, that's… Are you okay?" he asked, sensing there was something else.

"It was the best feeling ever, I can kind of see why you were so happy when she said Dada."

"There's something else though," he guessed, and she nodded.

"Do you ever think about what'll happen after next year, when I graduate?"

"Yeah," he understood now. "I mean I have to."

"You do," Rachel agreed, looking back to Nell in her arms. "I always wanted to go to New York…"

"Then you should. I can drive up with Nell on weekends, and we'll talk during the week, and after I graduate, too… then we can join you," he listed off, and she smiled.

"You really have thought about it," she breathed.

"Have to… I don't want to lose you, and neither does Nell." She looked down to the girl in her arms… Rachel didn't want to lose them either.

THE END

* * *

******A/N: This is a one-shot ficlet, which means that signing up for story alert will not bring you any alerts.  
****In the event of a sequel, the story will be separate from this one. And as chapter stories go, they are  
************always clearly indicated as such [ex: "Days 204-210" in the summary] Thank you!**


End file.
